Pic Courtesy: BFC
Internet Desk: India’s record goalscorer in international level Sunil Chhetri turns 33 today. The man who gifted Indian football fans so many moments to cheer, is still going strong and considered to be one of the all time legends in Indian football history. Today, on this auspicious day, www.xtratime.in picks his top three performances which made every Indian proud.
The AFC Challenge Cup Final, 2008
This was probably Sunil’s finest hour for the national side, as in India’s biggest match in recent times, he stood up to be counted, scoring a scintillating hattrick as the Men in Blue beat Tajikistan 4-1 at the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi. The result meant that India qualified for the Asian Cup for the first time since 1984, and Chhetri ended up as India’s top scorer at the tournament with four goals, also receiving the Man of the Match award for his performance in the final. It truly brought him into the limelight, with more clubs in Europe and in the west interested in the Delhi had then on.
India’s highest goalscorer in Nehru Cup 2007
After having made his debut in 2004, Chhetri continued to represent India in friendlies, but his first major international tournament was the Nehru Cup in 2007, where he ended up being India’s top scorer with four goals, scoring in the round-robin stages. Also, in the final, he was heavily involved in the crucial winner scored by NP Pradeep, contributing to India’s first ever Nehru Cup triumph. The result aside, it meant that Sunil Chhetri had arrived on the international scene, and was now one of the first names on the team sheet.
In the elite list of active goalscorers
Chhetri proved his quality once again when he found the back of the net against Kyrgyz Republic in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifier to help India win 1-0. The best part is that goal helped him go past Wayne Rooney and get this, he is now the 4th highest active international goal scorer in the world! That’s right, the world!
He is only behind Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and USA’s Clint Dempsey. Ronaldo leads with 73, Messi has 58, Dempsey 56 and Chhetri 54.